Page 163 of For Your Consideration

“Man.” I shook my head. “Can we even call him Grump anymore?”

Jaxson snorted. “Don’t think so.”

Asher just shrugged, his eyes locked on Sutton.

Looking around the room, I found my own distraction at the bar.

“Anyone want another?” I asked. They both shook their heads, showing me they still had drinks in their hand.

I was having fun tonight but I was keeping my head. And the reason for that was at the bar, pounding enough wine back for the both of us.

Wandering over, I leaned next to her. She didn’t acknowledge me as she looked at the booze bottles on the back wall. I faced her so I could take her in.

A respectful distance between us, of course.

“Emmaline.”

She still didn’t look at me, which was fine by me. Gave me more time to peruse her. Her long brown hair was down and pin straight, not a piece out of place. Her makeup was dark, some shiny shit on her cheekbones. She was wearing a stunning strapless green floral dress that molded to her perfectly.

To be honest, she was a fucking knockout.

“That’s not my name,” Emma finally said, still not looking over at me. I did know she went by Emma, but her full name was Emmaline and I liked poking her a little.

Okay, a lot.

I’d only ever met Emma a handful of times and the longest we’d ever spent in the same room was at her dad’s funeral in her childhood home in New York. Tonight, though, something was wrong with her. The smiles she gave seemed forced—well, more forced than normal. She’d refused Will’s offer to dance while she sat in her chair pounding wine.

She wasn’t very chatty and she gave off a cold vibe but I could see her relax every once in a while with Quinn, when she thought no one was looking.

Unfortunately for her, and me, I was always looking.

“Can I get you another?” the bartender asked me, pulling my attention from the stunning woman.

“No, I’m all set.” I lifted the glass in my hand.

The bartender gave me a nod and then looked to my right. “And you?”

I moved my eyes over to Emma and the empty wine glass in her hand. “Don’t you think you should slow down, darling?”

Her eyes cut to me and narrowed. They were this stunning deep blue that was only intensified by her dark hair. “I don’t like cutesy nicknames.” She didn’t seem very charmed by my British accent. That was new. “And I wasn’t looking for advice.”

“Well.” I turned to lean my hip on the counter. “What’s got you taking down wine like we might run out? I promise Knight didn’t skimp on the alcohol.”

She turned to face me. “I’m enjoying my brother’s wedding.”

“Tell that to your face,” I said, sending her a charming smile.

“And is anyone supervising your drinking?” She looked down at my gin glass pointedly.

“They should be.” I took a sip as she watched.

That wasn’t true.

But there was no reason she needed to know how sober I was. Although, I was second-guessing myself on how much I’d seen her drink since her words were completely clear, and she didn’t waver on her heels. When she met my eyes, they didn’t look glassy.

“Well, I’m coming off a breakup and based on the size of this wedding, I don’t think I’ll be finding anyone to give me a good orgasm tonight.”

I choked on my gin at her words, coughing and pounding my chest to clear it.